I literally don’t know what “literally” means any more.
The interest in quantum computing has literally exploded.
—from Physics magazine of the American Physical Society.
Information density
I saw this sign in an office when waiting to hand in some paperwork. What really struck me was how much information you can squeeze into a small space using Chinese characters! Most everyday Chinese words are one or two characters, whereas most English words need four or five letters.
This sign is a great example. The English six-letter word, ‘closed’, while giving you the essential meaning, doesn’t match the information content of the Chinese. A literal translation of these six Chinese characters might be:
This counter is temporarily not accepting applications.
That’s a lot of meaning from six characters! Much more than from our six-letter word.
Speelnig
I’ve walked past this place almost every day for a year and a half, and I’ve only just noticed the spelling…
提建议：我在找地道的中文名字！
刚来中国时，因为我的英语名字是“Matt”，我大学老师们叫我“马特”。而且，我们家有一个朋友给我们的姓：“董”。但是，“董马特”不是地道的中文名字。
我要请很多人提建议！姓“董”，应该叫什么名字？
My Dream 我的梦相
In my spoken Chinese class this week, each student gave a speech titled My Dream. This is a very important idea in China, and many young people speak of their Dream almost as a loved one: it is their inspiration, their source of strength and courage, and their hope for the future.
My Chinese is still pretty basic, but I was pleased with what I was able to say. After the spoken class, I wrote down my speech in more formal language (and got my teacher to correct the mistakes for me!)
My first Chinese article
Today I wrote my first proper article in Chinese! It’s very short and very simple, but it still made me very happy when I finished it! Here it is (after a few corrections from my teacher…)
Hooray, I passed all my exams!